The Cutting Room Floor Page 10

Qui-Gon aboard the Queen's ship

We're not exactly sure where this one fits in to the film, but this still from the Insider's Guide is not in the film. Qui-Gon's sure in a hurry going somewhere.

Updated! SpyRal says this: I remember reading about a scene when they had first landed on Tatooine, and Qui-Gon goes to find Jar-Jar, or Obi Wan convinces Qui Gon to take Jar-Jar. Very possible this is it, since there wouldn't be many chances for R2 to be rolling around with Qui Gon.

Australian Teaser Trailer Cut

Paul tell us that when he first saw the teaser trailer in Perth he thought that when the text, "EPISODE 1, THE PHANTOM MENACE" appeared at the end, that it was in the same silvery font as the one on the spine of the Jedi Knight game. He's obviously seen the trailer again numerous times but never has again seen the different font. Interesting.

How did they do that?

Aslan tells us about one little detail that started nagging at him immediately after he saw TPM oh, 4-5 times, was how fast Anakin finished his podracer in (apparently) less than a day. (The day shot where Jar-Jar's tongue gets numbed, Anakin tells his friends he's "entered in the Boonta Race tomorrow.") OK, so he's a mechanical and flying genius. But the racer was barely functional the day before, and when they arrive at the hangar it's all slicked up -- even PAINTED!

The answer can be found on page 65 of the Illustrated Screenplay, and it's pretty simple. There's an entire scene including Anakin, Padme, Kitster and R2-D2 the morning of the race (Qui-Gon had already left for the podrace hangar). Padme mentions to Artoo "I hope you're about finished" -- since the droid's apparently been up all night, painting Anakin's podracer... so, mystery explained: R2-D2 doesn't need to sleep. :)

Future Husband?

Tombourine tells us (and we confirmed) that in the novel when Anakin is talking to Padme' on the Ship and after he gives her the pendent he say's "So you would remember me" and according to the novel she says: "How could I forget my future husband?" Whew!

Battle in the Desert

Sith Lord Michael says this: I've been reading your Cutting Room Floor section, and I found this little section on the Official website regarding storyboards that might fit. It regards a desert battle, and wild jedi powers: "With such an iterative process, it is not surprising that the storyboard team had to adapt to significant changes along the way. "There was going to be a fight with the droids and tanks in the desert," Natividad recalls. "The Jedi powers were a little bit more magnified. They could jump 100 feet in the air and turn invisible - they would kind of shimmer. Obi-Wan could make a suggestion with the Force and a legion of droids would turn on each other and blow themselves away... to kind of lessen the Jedi's effort." "

Darth Maul and Obi-Wan Chat

Another item that was in the Insider's Guide is very cool. In one of the drafts of TPM, Lucas added some dialogue between Obi-Wan and Maul after Qui-Gon is killed:

Obi-Wan: "Your style of fighting is old, but I understand it now..."
Maul: "You learn fast."
Obi-Wan: "You don't bother to learn."
Maul: "I don't have to."
Obi-Wan then cuts Maul in half and says: "Learn not, live not, my master always says."

Power of the Sith

JediKoth tells us about this scene as well as the one above. Although never filmed, one of the coolest scenes cut from the revised draft is when Sidious is contacted for the first time and Daultay Dofine argues with him. Sidious begins Force-choking Dofine and picks him up off the ground and says,"You fool, my reach is far greater than the Jedi. Only a Sith can wield the force over such a great distance."

Jar Jar Distracts the Guard

The Riddler tells us of another close up shot that was cut, with only the far away shot remaining in the film. It's not really a big scene but it was of a quick individual shot of Jar Jar Binks mimicking tourists off Great Britain by trying to distract the Imperial Royal Guard's motionless face.

The shot was cut for time and appears right during the scene where Supreme Chancellor Valorum is rudely dismissed by Queen Amidala and then Senator Palpatine cuts in.